Invisible Apparition
by Racheluvme Ladybuguboo
Summary: Diana is moving into her own apartment and it's everything she's dreamed of close to campus, great roommate, & hot neighbors. But apartment 13 isn't all it's cracked up to be. Ever since she signed the lease, a redeyed man has been stalking her.
1. Chapter 1 The Alley

**Author's Note: this is Racheluvme and Ladybuguboo. we are bringing you a new story! arent u excited! we are! so read read read read and review! pretty please. we know its not about twilight, but its still quite amazing if we do say so ourselves. but tell us what u think! and read our other stories too! Royal Sun by Racheluvme and Waxing Moon by Ladybububoo!**

**Disclaimer: we do not own any of stephenie meyer's characters or ideas about twilights vampires, but we do own diana, her red eyed friend, and the ppl in the future of our story that you will have the privalige of meeting later! so enjoy the first chapter.**

Chapter 1 The Alley

I stood against the wall, gaping down the empty alleyway. It hadn't been empty a second ago, at least I thought there was something or someone there.

Shaking my head, I told myself I was seeing things. I had been seeing things a lot lately; in my room, at school, the reflection of windows, even in my mirror. I had started carrying a knife with me wherever I went, along with my cell phone and pepper spray. I couldn't help but clutch my purse containing all my self-defense items, closer to me, with a sweaty hand. I forced myself to turn my back on the invisible apparition.

I made my way quickly to the end of the alley, thankful for the light the CVS provided. Pushing open the door, a bell jingled as I stepped inside. The warm atmosphere of cashiers ringing people up, pharmacists calling out names for prescriptions and little kids whining about candy bars calmed my nerves. I felt my shoulders relax, and my hand loosen on my purse. Momentarily forgetting what I had come here for I took my list out of my bag.

-Milk

-Shampoo

-Nail polish remover

-Foundation

I made my way to the makeup aisle, feeling better and safer with so many people around. Glancing at the different brands of cover-up: Almay, Revlon, L'Oreal, I concentrated on picking the color that would fit my skin best. It was as I was studying the translucent Neutrogena foundation that I glanced in a mirror, trying to get the correct tone of my skin. In the reflection I saw him clearly for the first time, the one who'd been stalking me. He had blonde, side swept hair in casual disarray, piercing red eyes, and the most beautiful white face imaginable. I'd been staring for a good five seconds, expecting him to disappear like before, but nothing happened.

"You shouldn't bother with that makeup," a deep voice suggested, making me jump. I turned around, away from the mirror and saw the same man, he hadn't moved. "You're beautiful," he continued, taking the foundation from my clenched fist, "as it is." My mouth hung open. I clutched my purse tight again, ready to unzip it and grab my Mace.

"T-thank Y-you," I stuttered.

A small smirk crossed his face, "w-well, you're w-welcome."

The mocking tone in his voice made my face burn. He stared at my cheeks for a moment, then raised a finger and held it just above the rosy red skin.

I was so shocked I didn't know what to do. I was just seeing things right? He was going to disappear like he always did.

I watched as the finger slowly closed the small distance between his pale finger and my bright cheek. The contrast was exquisite. My legs wouldn't move, even though my brain was screaming at me to run. Obviously mysterious handsome men that randomly appear and disappear could not be good news.

But all my helpless brain could get me to do was close my eyes just before the finger would touch my face. I held my breath and waited but instead of the feeling of something brushing against my cheek, I heard breathing next to my ear.

"I'm going to ask you one thing." My heart stilled.

"Can you see me?"

Finally something jogged in my brain. I tore open my purse and grabbed my pepper spray, but as I held the little bottle out in front of me the aisle of makeup was empty. I spun around to look down to the other end, but that was empty too. I looked behind me, into the mirror searching for any trace of the man that had just been here. There was nothing, only the reflection of a wide eyed girl holding foundation and pepper spray.

I had been seeing things for a while now, but this was the first time it had lasted for so long. I must be going out of my mind.

As I handed the acne ridden boy at the counter my money, and walked back out the door, taking a different way home to avoid the alley, I told myself over and over again that I was just seeing things.

"Can you see me?" The wind whispered. I glanced back at the dark alley, chills running down my spine.

Nothing. Of course there was nothing. My shoulders hunched. My knuckles where white on my purse strap, flip-flops clacking on the pavement. Every time I went through a patch of sidewalk that the streetlights didn't touch, I would sprint, resorting to my childhood fear of the dark. The whole fifteen minutes it took me to get home I sensed a presence just steps behind me. When I finally made it inside, I set all my bags on the counter, locking the door behind me.

"Is that you Diana?" my mother asked. She was sitting with my little sister Trisha watching American Idol.

"Yeah mom, but I'm kinda tired so I think I'm just gonna head upstairs and go to bed." I said, putting the milk in the refrigerator and taking the remainder of my purchases upstairs with me.

"Goodnight Deedee," my mom said.

"Goodnight, love you," I said.

"Love you too," she replied. I made my way up the stairs, feet dragging all the way.

I filled the bathtub with water and bubble bath. I clipped my hair up and stepped into the tub, immediately relaxing. No one could hurt me in my own home. I'd begun to think that I'd imagined the whole exchange at the store. The sweet aroma of Moonlight Path bubble bath captured my nostrils causing my eyes to droop. This was my favorite thing to do just before bed. It always relaxed me and calmed my senses. I opened my eyes and tried to read the time on my digital clock. That's when, for the second time that night, I saw him.

I swear I saw him. He was leaning casually against the sink, just staring down at me. But when I flung myself across the bathtub, as far away from him as possible, he vanished, right in front of my eyes. I knew one thing for certain. I wasn't safe anywhere from this creature.


	2. Chapter 2 The Apartment

**Author's Note: Hey everyone! Ladybuguboo here! Hope you like this next chapter, and when you're done, tell us what you liked and what you didn't.**

**Also, don't forget to check out Racheluvme's other story, and mine!**

Chapter 2: The Apartment

My door creaked open and two small green eyes poked their way in. Turning from my mirror, I looked back as Trisha slipped inside the door.

"Mom said it's time for you to go," she said, placing herself precariously at the foot of my bed.

I turned back to my reflection, picked up an earring and jammed it into the tiny hole. "Tell her I'll be down after I brush my teeth."

For a moment Trisha balanced on my bed, her eyes shinning like crystal green pools. "What?" I asked.

Her shoulders slumped, "I was hoping I could go with you."

"It's really not going to be that cool"

"I know…But…I know."

Slowly I turned and knelt next to my baby sister. Her bottom lip just barely stuck out in a little pucker, trembling ever so slightly. I was sure that if I lifted her chin, her eyes would be shinning more than usual from tears.

My sister was the biggest baby sometimes. She cried at almost anything. I once tired to squash a spider in her room, and she almost tackled me. She "couldn't bare to see it get hurt," sometimes I think she would be better named Snow White or Sleeping Beauty. But I had never been able to scold her or tease her about it. I always found myself trying to protect her from the world instead of exposing her to it. Maybe it was because she looked so much like me. The only difference being that i had blue eyes and straight hair while she had green and curly.

Mother always said that we could have been twins if it weren't for the age difference and the fact that I have my father's eyes. I'd never met my father, at least that I can remember. He died when I was about five and then my mom got remarried, and had Trisha.

"Look," I said stroking her thick brown hair, "I don't really know what my apartment is going to be like. There might be a lot of bugs and you know what I do with bugs. I don't want to make you cry."

She nodded slowly. My sister, though she was only seven, just couldn't stick up for herself. She was one of those kids who would sit in the corner and read rather than interact with the other kids. She was just so shy and one little word could make her break down.

"But I'll bring you back lots of pictures ok?"

(Insert Page Break)

The car came to a stop. I rolled down the window and gazed out as an ominous feeling of dread came over me.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" mom's voice was filled with disgust.

The building was five stories high with big ugly rusted bars over all the windows. The ground was more dirt with cigarette butts, McDonald's bags, and broken glass then it was grass. In one of the Walls there was a hole where someone had been throwing pill bottles. The walls themselves looked like, at some point maybe a thousand years ago that they had been a green color, but no the paint was chipped and stained. Even the main door was falling off.

I was able to sigh in relief when I pushed open my door. It was much better on the inside. The walls were a light tan color that were in fairly good condition besides a long crack in the "Bedroom" section that was bout a foot and a half long with a three inch gap.

The room was empty except from a blue school chair in the corner and an old fridge that was avocado green. Inside it were three bottles that looked like wine from the previous owners. I wasn't really sure since the labels were in a different language.

That was odd. Upon closer inspection, they seemed to be in French. Unfortunately for me, I had taken German rather than French in High School. I carefully emptied out the bottles contents, a thick red liquid-solid, into the sink and tossed the glass into the wastebasket. My roommate Jen was known to be quite the drinker and I didn't want to have to rush her to the hospital for poisoning.

I set to work. It was two days before we would move in and this apartment was in desperate need of spring cleaning. Tearing open a packet of rags and some Lysol, I scrubbed the grime and dust off the counters and table tops. Next was the stove. Some foreign kind of food was burnt on to the stovetop. This would take more than Lysol. I checked in my small stash of cleaning supplies and found nothing that would be of use.

"Guess it's time to meet the neighbors," I thought as I grabbed my key. That's right, my key. No more dorm rooms with crazy roommates. In my freshman year at Green Hills University, I'd gone in blind, hoping to make new friends that way. Unfortunately I was paired with Missy; a perky cheerleader who slept with every guy on the football team and brought them all back to our room, and frequently, my bed. I'd become an expert at the art of laundry. But this year would be different. I was living in my own apartment just off campus with my best friend Jen. She had gotten out of the mass cleaning only because she was vacationing with her family in Greece.

"Deedee, It's gonna be torture. My dad's going to wake us up at 7:00 every morning to go sightseeing! I'll only have a couple days to lay out at the beach _and _I have to spend time with my cousin. I've never even met her!" This was her excuse as to why she couldn't help with all our "apartment details" as she called it.

"Oh, boo hoo, poor little Jen has to go to exotic Athens and meet her beautiful relatives and see all there is to see in a foreign country," I pouted.

"Well I'm sorry I'll miss out on the cleaning, but I promise I'll bring you back some expensive souvenirs and pictures," she said.

"I'll miss you," I said, giving her a hug and willing myself not to cry.

"I'll miss you more," she said, her voice shaking terribly.

"Goodbye," I whispered.

"Bye Deedee."

So this was how I came to be stuck, cleaning an apartment by myself with no stovetop cleaner. I knocked on apartment 15. No answer. I moved on to the apartment across the hall. A tall man wearing only boxer shorts opened the door.

"Um, Hi," I chocked out, trying not to stare at his defined chest.

"Yeah, what do you want?" He asked taking a swig of the beer in his hand.

"Well, I'm Diana and I was wondering if-"

"Listen lady, if you're selling something, I don't want it." He said dismissively.

"Oh, no, actually I'm moving in across the hall and I was just wondering if you had any stovetop cleaner," I said meekly.

"Do I look like Mr. Clean to you?" He gestured to his appearance.

"I guess not, well thanks anyway," I turned away to go back to my apartment but I caught him looking me up and down as he took another sip of beer. He let out a low whistle and leaned against the chipped and broken door frame.

Turning back to him I folded my arms across my chest, "Can I help you with something?'

"Not really," He said, taking another long drink from his bottle. A small drop slid from his mouth and down his neck. I forced myself to stop watching its progression down his chest. "I've just never seen an ass quite like that before."

My jaw fell open in anger. How the heck was I supposed to respond to that? I turned on my heels and marched down the hall back to my apartment. Trying desperately not to think about him staring at my butt the whole way, I yanked my keys out of my pocket and fumbled to get it in the lock, but I dropped them. As I bent to pick them up, I could hear him laughing.

I locked the door when I finally managed to get inside. I turned from the door and glanced around my empty apartment. I did a double take.

My heart rate had sped up in that small second that I could have sworn I had seen a tall blonde, red-eyed man standing next to my counter. Now that I looked again, I saw a small white and blue bottle sitting there. Picking it up, my eyes widened.

Kitchen Cleaner

-All surface mess remover!-

That night, back at my mom's house, before I went to bed I turned on all the lights and checked every room. Just before climbing under the covers, I thought of one last thing. In the bathroom I carefully removed the mirror, and then went around covering all my windows.

**Author's Note: Ok now its Racheluvme! hehe so what did you think? keep reading and REVEIW REVIEW REVIEW! the good the bad the ugly, anything! WE want to hear from u!**


	3. Chapter 3 The Neighbors

**Author's Note: Hey guys i kno its been a while since we updated, but her is your chapter now! we really need more reviews! the good the bad the ugly, we just need them becuase that is what motivates us to write if 50 peope read it, and only 10 people review it makes us sad. so in short please reveiw and make us happy: ) anyway here is the chapter**

Chapter 3: The Neighbors

The bell sang out, cutting the teacher off in mid-sentence. She looked up at the PA system, annoyed, then turned back to the class that was already scrambling to leave.

"Ok, don't forget the reading from the text book tonight, and I want that essay by Friday."

It had been a long first day. My first class had started at 8am then I had an hour break before my next four classes. Finally at 3pm they were over for the day.

I made my way through the bustling crowd, walking quickly to get to my apartment before Jen so I could get the newly hooked up computer first. It was about the only thing we had set up so far. Move in day was today for us because Jen had just gotten back yesterday, the day right before school started. I had set up the computer, refrigerator, a couple of plates and glasses, and a sleeping bag; the rest of the apartment was empty. When I turned onto my street I immediately reached into my bag and grabbed my pepper spray and my key. It may not have been very far from the campus, but it was one of the most dangerous streets around.

"Jen?" I called out, locking the five locks behind me. No answer. Sighing with relief, I walked over to the kitchen section of the apartment, opened a cupboard and grabbed a glass.

I was just placing the glass beneath the tap when I noticed a glass already sitting in the sink. It had a slimy red coating on the inside that looked like someone had been trying to wash it out, but hadn't quite finished. Jen must have gotten back early, had a drink than half-heartedly rinsed it out, leaving it for me to take care of. It was just like Jen. I'd known Jen was a messy person, but I had hoped she would take a little more care with her won apartment. But I guess it was too much to ask. I grumbled as I picked up the empty glass to finish rinsing it out. That was when I noticed that the glass was chipped and there was a huge sharp end at the lip.

Suddenly the door burst open. I jumped, causing me to slice open my palm on the sharp edge. Immediately blood began to flow out of the huge gash.

"Oh Damn that hurts!"

Jen came bounding over to me, "Oh My Gosh!" she seized my hand. "Are you Ok"

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just…" I started to get a little woozy, and then I noticed the figure standing in front of my sleeping bag. It was right there, only 20 feet away, but at the same time, it wasn't there. It was almost like a mist with a form. It twisted and moved but it stayed still at the same time. He just stood there. The same guy I'd been seeing for almost two months now. His eyes seem to be glowing, and anger twisted his beautiful face.

"Dee, are you listening to me?"

"What?"

"I said we need to clean this up, but we don't have anything here, let's go ask the neighbors."

Jen practically dragged me out of the room and when I looked back, he was still there, staring. Then the door closed and he was gone.

Jen started pulling me towards the apartment across the hall.

"No Jen," I pleaded, "Not there." She continued dragging me foreword.

"Diana, I don't care if he harassed you. Inside every man is the need to be a hero. He'll just lend us some Band-Aids and we'll be on our way." She said. There was definitely some flaws in her reasoning, and I was just about to voice those when the door swung open. Instead of the scantily clad man I had met before, there was another. He had midnight black hair and a blue tee shirt that was stretched tight across his chest. He had a thick novel in his hand and when he glanced up at us, I saw that he also had the bluest eyes I had ever seen.

"Hello," he greeted.

"OK, I don't want any funny business, my roommate just sliced her hand and we need some disinfectant," commanded Jen. My face turned beet red.

Perplexed his gaze landed on my bleeding hand. "What happened?" he asked, taking my hand in his and leading us inside. "Here, sit," he pulled up a kitchen chair and went into the next room. I glanced at Jen.

"He was the one who harassed you right?" She questioned. I shook my head. "Oops." He walked back into the room, carrying a small bag. He took a seat next to me and pulled out a bottle of disinfectant, some cotton swabs and a white gauze bandage.

"Don't worry; I'm a med student at the U. You're in good hands," He smiled, dabbing at the blood on my hand.

"Thank you," I said.

"Not a problem. Just be happy it was me and not my roommate Jared. Lets just say he's not as accommodating," he finished wrapping my hand, giving it a light tap.

"Well actually, I did kind of run into him the other day," I admitted looking at the floor.

"Oh, so you're the new neighbor with the nice assets." He chuckled.

"Apparently."

"I'm sorry about him, he's a real jerk, but he was the only one with reasonable prices for renting," he said, "My name's Scott by the way."

"Diana," I replied, Jen nudged my arm, "and this is my roommate and best friend Jen," I had almost forgotten about her.  
"Nice to meet you both," he said smiling at each of us in turn.

"Well Deedee, we should get going. Today's move in day remember?" She pulled me out of my chair.

"Do you guys need any help?" Scott questioned, "You shouldn't be doing any heavy lifting with that hand of yours."

"Really," I said, "We'll be fine. We don't have that much stuff."

"Actually, we could use a strong man to help us with the T.V. and armoire," countered Jen, giving me a meaningful look.

"Sure, let me just go turn off the computer and T.V. Your apartment is across the hall right?"

"Yup," replied Jen, dragging me back out the door. There seemed to be a lot of dragging Diana around lately. As soon as our apartment door was closed, she let go of my hand and started fussing with my hair, pulling and tucking stray tendrils.

"Jen what's going on?" You know we could have lifted that T.V. by ourselves." I said, getting annoyed with all the tugging she was doing on my baby-fine hair.

"Didn't you see the way he was looking at you? And when he touched your hand, Deedee, he's definitely interested," Jen said, still poking and prodding at me.

"Who?" I asked.

"SCOTT!" she yelled.

"Shh, don't be so loudghvm­-" I got a mouthful of artificial strawberries as she applied lip gloss. "Jen, won't it be a little obvious if he comes back and suddenly I look amazing?" I reasoned.

"You're right!" She exclaimed and started pulling out my hair making it messy again. I raised a hand to wipe off the strawberry lip gloss.

"NO," she caught my hand," The lip gloss stays" we both heard the knock at the same time.

Jen giggled slightly as she went to the door and opened it. "Thanks for agreeing to help us with this Scott; it's really nice of you. Come on in."

He stood in the doorway studying the room then slowly stepped inside, "Wow, this is a lot nicer than all the other apartments. I wouldn't have expected something like this here."

"Thank you," Jen said glancing in my direction.

"Right, well, I guess we should get started then shouldn't we?" I said heading towards the door.

Jen grabbed my arm, "Oh crap, Dee, I forgot about that thing!"

"What thing?" I asked, confused.

"That _THING,_ the really important thing that I forgot," she looked at me meaningfully. "I'm really sorry Scott, but I really have to go get it. I'll be back later; you two just start bringing things in and get as much done as possible."

I watched in horror as she waved goodbye, winking obviously at me, and left closing the door behind her; leaving me in a room full of silence.

"Well this is the stuff." Scott and I looked down at the piles of boxes wedged together into the trunk of my family's car.

"You got all of that to fit into one car?"

"Um…Yeah, my mom helped us out a bit, and she's really good at puzzles."

He looked at me from the corner of his eye.

"Yes," I said, "My mother's a geek."

"Sure, whatever," he shrugged and picked up the first box.

It took a total of three hours. We had to grab a box, walk up two flights of stairs, unlock the room, put the stuff where it needed to be, lock the door again, go down the stairs, unlock the car and do I all over again. By the time we were finished, we had five stubbed toes, one scraped knee from me falling down the stairs, one gash up Scott's arm, his finger smashed in the car door; and my head bruised from bumping it on a table.

About ten minutes before we finished, Jen came speeding back in her junk car with an ice cream.

"So did you get that thing?" Scott asked.

"The what? Oh! Yeah that, No. I guess my mom threw it out."

"Sure she did," I said, rolling my eyes. She glared at me. "Hey you guys have worked so hard, lets go take a break and get some drinks!" she looked between us, Scott shrugged.

So we headed back up to the apartment where Jen commanded both of us to sit while she got the drinks. She came back with three cups and a bottle. After pouring liberal amounts of the red liquid into each cup, she handed them to us and settled back into her chair as Scott and I were forced to sit together on the couch. The couch was really more of an oversized armchair and two full grown adults really weren't made to sit in it, but we made do; which actually meant that I was practically on top of him.

"So do you two like living here?" Scott asked casually.

"Sure."

"It's our first place to ourselves. I don't think we could hate it if we tried," Jen elaborated. "Do you like it here?'

Scott sat back, shifting his legs underneath mine, and thought for a moment, "It's not really that I like it, but more like…It's convenient, cheap, good size, close to school, close to home and close to work. I don't think I could have found anything better."

"It's kind of the same for us too," I said, "It's not exactly my dream house, but its just right for two college students, and the place kind of grows on you."

"To tell you the truth, I'm surprised you like it and that its in such good condition."

"Why do you say that?" Jen asked.

"Well they say this place is haunted." My head snaped up.

"Haunted?" Laughed Jen, "You have got to be kidding me."

"No really! They say that everyone that has rented this place left after a week. Every one of them came out saying they saw things, heard things. There's even a ruler that someone was killed here. All their blood was drained from their body. Their face and neck were mangled and even some of the body was missing; it was torn apart so bad," he shivered.

"Did any of these people say what they saw here?"

He looked at me quizzically, "I think I remember someone saying that they saw a man."

"What did he look like? Did he have red eyes," I struggled to keep my voice steady.

Scott sat there, his eyes wide, "How do you know about the eyes?"

I squirmed uncomfortable, "It's nothing, I've just…"

Have you seen him?" He grabbed my hand, "Have you seen the red-eyed man?"

Suddenly the sound of gagging and sputtering made us turn around. Jen was in the chair leaning over, clutching her throat. A red liquid was dripping from her lips onto the floor as her shoulders heaved with the effort of expelling it from her mouth.

I started screaming as Scott jumped up and grabbed her. "Oh my God! Oh my God! Jen!" I watched as Jen threw up all over the floor, dropping her glass.

"What was that drink?!" Scott demanded.

I grabbed the bottle and my eyes flew open. It was all in French. I quickly recognized it as one of the bottles I had emptied and thrown out on my first day here. How had it gotten here?

"Mary mother of God, its blood!" I looked over at Scott who was kneeling next to Jen. He held up the glass Jen had handed him, filled with the thick red liquid.

Later, as Jen was taking a nap on the couch, Scott and I poured the vile liquid down the sink and flipped on the garbage disposal. Scott took the now empty wine bottles out to the dump himself, not trusting the garbage men. When he returned he asked me about them.

"They were in the refrigerator. I threw them away when I started cleaning," I answered.

"And you're sure you threw them away?" He asked in a tone that was not condescending.

"Positive," I answered.

"Well I'm not sure what's going on here, but I don't like it." He said as he gathered his tools and jacket.

"Thank you so much for everything, really," I said truly grateful for his presence.

"Diana, I know I just met you today, but if anything happens, I'm just across the hall and I'll give you my number so you can call. In fact, why don't you call me before you go to bed tonight so I know nothing's happened." He stepped out the door, "Be safe Diana," the door closed behind him.

**Author's Note: haha, the famous "be safe" line! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! Oh and let us know if there are errors pretty please!**


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